Five-year surveillance and correlation of antibiotic consumption and resistance of Gram-negative bacteria at an intensive care unit in Serbia

A surveillance study was performed in an intensive care unit in the largest tertiary health care center in Vojvodina, Serbia from 2014 to 2018. Antibiotic prescription data were collated in the WHO anatomical therapeutic chemical (ATC)/defined daily dose (DDD) format, while antibiotic resistance was expressed as incidence density adjusted for total inpatient-days. Individual trends were determined by linear regression, while possible associations between antibiotic prescription and resistance were evaluated using cross-correlation analysis. An overall decrease in antibiotic utilization was observed. The prescription rates of piperacillin-tazobactam increased significantly, while consumption of 3rd and 4th generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones decreased. There were rising incidence densities of doripenem resistant Acinetobacter spp., piperacillin-tazobactam resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and carbapenem and colistin resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae. These results can serve as a basis for the development of antimicrobial stewardship strategies in the current setting.